Help Us If You Can But even if you can't, use us to defend yourself with the facts.
All contributions are 100% tax deductible. Project Vote Smart will not sell or allow the use of its membership list, ever! Donation Type: New Membership Membership Renewal Additional Contribution Gift Membership Legacy Fund Contribution Memorial Gift Honor Gift Special Holiday New Membership Mr.   Mrs.   Ms.   Dr.   Other: First name* Last name* Address* City* State* Zip*    Phone    E-mail Amount*: General $45 Supporting $100 Sustaining $250 Founding $1,000 Other: $ Recurring*: One Time Donation Monthly Quarterly (3 months) Biannually (6 months) Yearly Where would you like your contribution to be used? More information General Support Arizona Office Vote Smart's Technology Voters' Hotline Voters' Self-Defense Fund Legacy Endowment Scholarship Fund Publications How did you hear about us?*: Do not remember PVS Member PVS Event Bus Tour Speaking Tour News Story Internet Search Engine Other If other: * Required field Project Vote Smart does not handle or store any credit card information on our site. When you click on "Proceed" above, you will be taken to a secure site which will record your financial information.			Three Ways to Help Us: Become a PVS Member Volunteer or Intern at the Project's beautiful Great Divide Ranch research facility Become a Project Vote Smart Ambassador and show the Project's video presentation to groups and schools in your community. Thank you for your support. We do not accept contributions from any corporations, labor unions, or other organizations that lobby, support or oppose candidates or issues. And remember, you don't have to be a member to use our services! If you prefer to make your donation by phone or mail, you can call our toll-free Hotline at 1-888-VOTE-SMART (1-888-868-3762), or click here for a printer-friendly form which you can mail with your check. If you have any problems with this form, you can call our toll-free Hotline at 1-888-VOTE-SMART (1-888-868-3762) and an operator will assist you. To cancel your recurring donation, please call us at 1-888-VOTE-SMART (1-888-868-3762). If your recurring donation is through PayPal, please Click Here

About Project Vote Smart

So different in background, so opposed in interest, you would not find our kind elsewhere on the earth or anywhere in human history. As a nation we have succeeded, not because we struggle with one another, but because we somehow have learned to recognize that the single issue that will always call us to arms is one that requires the defense of each other - a defense against the aggression that strikes at the heart of the American experience and endangers our freedom and ability to self-govern.

On common ground at a unique research center high in the Montana Rockies, a struggling group of Americans, who you are unlikely to know and will probably never meet, have begun a battle. A battle to protect all of us from the selfish interests that strip us of the most crucial component in our struggle to self-govern -- access to abundant, accurate, and relevant information.

Here at Project Vote Smart, Americans young and old volunteer their time, take no money from special interest groups, and have committed themselves to an extraordinary effort that, if successful, will provide their fellow citizens with the tools for a reemergence of political power not known for half a century. Their idea is one you may have thought of yourself. It is a deceptively simple concept but enormously difficult to achieve and would not be possible without the collaboration of citizens willing to lay their partisan differences aside for this one crucial task.

Picture this: thousands of citizens (conservative and liberal alike) working together, spending endless hours researching the backgrounds and records of thousands of political candidates and elected officials to discover their voting records, campaign contributions, public statements, biographical data (including their work history) and evaluations of them generated by over 100 competing special interest groups. Every election these volunteers test each candidate's willingness to provide citizens with their positions on the issues they will most likely face if elected through the Political Courage Test.

This project is an historic undertaking. Citizens come together, not in selfish interest or to support one candidate over another, but to defend democracy. It is an extraordinary gathering of people committed to one purpose: to strengthen the most essential component of democracy -- access to information -- even as it suffers grave attacks from candidates and political parties, many who are now willing to manipulate information and deceive voters.

In essence, what Project Vote Smart's interns and volunteers have done is ensure that tolerance will no longer be the only option available to the millions of us who are tormented by the issueless rhetoric and often misleading attacks that define contemporary American politics.

Most of us at Project Vote Smart are not paid and those who are receive only minimal salaries to cover living expenses. We will not accept funding from corporations, PACs or any organization that support or oppose candidates or issues. This effort will be financed by you and other Americans or not at all. Although we could sure use your help, YOU DO NOT NEED TO HELP US IN ANY WAY. Our programs and services are free to all Americans.

All of us realize that the mudslinging tactics once associated only with the crudest kinds of local politics now characterize virtually all campaigns and have stripped us of the most crucial component in our struggle to self-govern: access to abundant, accurate and relevant information about those who govern us and those who wish to replace those who do.

An Extraordinary Organization Has Some Extraordinary Rules

1. No one can join the Project's board without a political opposite. People as diverse as former Presidents Carter and Ford, former Senators McGovern and Goldwater, former Governor Dukakis, former Congresswoman Ferraro and current Senator McCain have served on the Project's board, supporting the efforts of the Project's students and volunteers, and ensuring balance and strict impartiality in PVS programs and services.
2. The Project refuses financial assistance from all organizations and special interest groups that lobby or support or oppose any candidate or issue.
3. The Project operates much like the Peace Corps -- of the over 5000 people who have come to help by working at the Project, ninety percent received no pay and those who did received only minimal salaries to cover basic living expenses.
4. Unlike other organizations, the Project strictly protects its members and supporters. We never sell or provide names, addresses, or other contact information of any supporter or contributor to anyone, at any time, for any reason.